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Egyptian women chant pro-Muslim slogans as they demonstrate near the mosque where the body of an Egyptian woman killed in a Dresden courthouse is carried away for burial - Source: Reuters
Hundreds of mourners protested at the funeral of an Egyptian
woman who was murdered inside a German court, a crime that has
incensed public opinion and media in the Arab world's most populous
country.
Egyptian newspapers have given broad coverage to the death of Marwa
El-Sherbiny, 31, describing the veiled woman as a martyr and
suggesting the killer was motivated by a hatred of Islam.
Mourners chanted Down with Germany and scuffled with police after
prayers in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria for Sherbiny,
murdered in a Dresden courtroom by an unidentified German of
Russian origin, witnesses said.
Sherbiny, mother to a three-year-old and three months pregnant, was
stabbed 18 times by the man she was testifying against during an
appeal hearing, German prosecutors said.
Her killer also stabbed her husband, who German police then mistook
for the attacker and shot in the leg, prosecutors added.
The husband is in critical condition after waking from a
coma.
Her killer was appealing against a conviction for insulting
Sherbiny by calling her an Islamist, terrorist and a slut when she
asked him to make space for her son to go on the swings on a
playground in Dresden, prosecutors said.
Sherbiny's body was flown to Cairo on Sunday, and met by her family
and the German ambassador on arrival.
Her funeral was attended by members of parliament, a minister, a
representative of Egypt's Coptic Christians and others.
"This is for sure a hate crime, but unlike other hate crimes like
homophobic crimes or anti-Semitic crimes, it did not make the
headlines abroad ... She is a martyr of racism and hate," said
Egyptian blogger Zeinobia.
Several Facebook groups dedicated to Sherbiny have sprung up, one
with close to 4,000 members, and videos of Sherbiny's funeral and
photographs of her.
Some members have called for a boycott of German products.
Members of the Muslim Brotherhood parliamentary bloc, Egypt's most
powerful opposition group, have called for MPs to discuss the
killing, the group's website said.
Trade unions have condemned the murder and the head of Egypt's
lawyers' syndicate, Hamdi Khalifa, described the attack as racially
motivated, the official MENA news agency reported.
The daily Shorouk quoted Sherbiny's brother Tarek as saying German
authorities did not contact the family until 24 hours after the
killing, adding: "If the death had been of a French or American
person, there would have been an uproar."
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